Waitangi Day commemorations honouring our nation’s founding document are scheduled at Clive’s Farndon Park on the morning of Friday, February 6.
This annual historic event, close to Waipureku, where Te Tiriti was signed in 1840, offers opportunities for reflection and action.
The day starts at 7:45 am at Ātea a Rangi, Waitangi Park, Awatoto, with karakia, followed by the Hikoi of Unity, a three-kilometre walk to Farndon Park.
Maori wardens will lead the hikoi and provide a shuttle service from Farndon Park back to Atea a Rangi to retrieve your car. Nau mai, haere mai – all are welcome, and bring your flags!
The walkers will pause at the Clive Bridge for karakia at the memorial plaque remembering the Kahungunu chiefs – Te Hapuku, Hoani Waikato and Harawira Mahika Te Tatere – who signed Te Tiriti in June 1840, aboard the HMNZ Herald anchored close by, under the watchful eye of Emissary Major Thomas Bunbury.
“The hīkoi is a beautiful and popular way to begin the day and an opportunity to join others in remembering local history which helped shape the future of our nation,” says Waipureku Waitangi Trust chair Maxine Boag.
Non-walkers will meet up with the group at 9:00 am at Farndon Park for the haka pōwhiri, led by manawhenua, with students from St Joseph’s Māori Girls’ College and Hukarere College.
This traditional welcome will be followed by speeches in the marquee first from the keynote speaker, then from local dignitaries from the Councils and the Iwi.
The keynote speaker is Dr Kathie Irwin, MNZM, Ngati Kahungunu, a highly respected Māori academic, policy adviser and advocate for Te Tiriti o Waitangi. She has spent decades working at the interface of Māori rights, education, research, and public policy. Dr Irwin is widely known for her leadership in kaupapa Māori theory and practice, and for advancing Tiriti-based approaches across government, education and community sectors.
Dr Irwin has consistently emphasised Te Tiriti as a living covenant requiring shared power, genuine partnership, and respect for Māori knowledge systems. Through her writing, teaching and advisory work, she has played a significant role in strengthening understanding of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the foundation for equitable and just relationships in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Her topic for her address is “A Tiriti-based Future for Aotearoa-New Zealand”.
After morning tea at 10:30, a panel discussion begins at 11 am, with a range of local speakers, focussing on the same theme – how can we all, Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti – move forward in honouring Te Tiriti in partnership, as individuals, as collectives, as a region and as a nation?
Maxine adds: “We will also be remembering the late Jim Edwards who, with his wife Marie started this annual event in Clive in 1999, and many will have enjoyed paddling up the river in the massive waka Nga Tukemata o Kahungunu which Jim captained but which was removed when silt built up. This commemoration would not be happening today were it not for years of work by Jim and Marie. Moe mai ra e te Rangatira, Moe Mai ra.“
